Astronomy Question & Answer Hotline

407.514.2050

Got a question of a celestial nature? Give us a call and we will get you an answer!

Astronomy Information Hotline

407.514.2088

Need to know what is going on in the nighttime sky? Call our recorded hotline for the latest sights to see. Updated monthly.

Local Astronomy Group

Interested in joining a local astronomy group? Check out the Central Florida Astronomical Society.

CFAS activities include monthly meetings featuring guest speakers, monthly observing sessions at several sites across Central Florida, publication of a web information site, and public observing sessions when events of significant interest occur. For more information visit their site at www.cfas.org.

Adopt-A-Star

You can Adopt-A-Star in support of our astronomy programs. Orlando Science Center adoptions make unique gifts, great class projects and fun family activities. Adoption packets include personalized certificates, educational material and more.

The aluminum-domed Crosby Observatory atop Orlando Science Center houses Florida's largest publicly accessible refractor telescope. This one-of-a-kind custom-built telescope, along with several smaller scopes, are available at selected times for solar and night sky viewing.

Peer through the powerful, 10-inch lens of the refractor telescope to view the planets, the four moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulas and double stars.

All activities and events in the Crosby Observatoryare weather permitting only.

SkyWatch

June 12- August 22, 2015

Fridays & Saturdays, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Join our astronomers in the Crosby Observatory for a night full of wonder. Enjoy views of the celestial objects while you take in the glittering Orlando skyline. Peer through the powerful, 10-inch lens of the refractor telescope to view the planets like Jupiter, Mars and Venus and deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulas and more. This activity is weather-permitting.

Please note admission to the Science Center can be purchased until 9:00 p.m. Guests already in the building are welcome to enjoy the observatory until 10:00pm.

SunWatch

October 4, 2014 - May 2, 2015

First Saturday of every month, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Safely gaze upon the closest star to our home planet - the Sun. Our astronomers take aim at the sun to reveal the secrets hidden behind its glare. Take a peek at the Sun’s surface to see what kind of day the sun is having. Sometimes the surface is placid and serene but more often than not, it is boiling with sunspots and solar flares.

Science Night Live

An “adult swim” of the science variety, the event features everything great about the Science Center. Experience all four floors of exhibits, films and hands-on programming aimed specifically for grown-ups, while enjoying adult food and beverages available for purchase. Must be 21 and older.

Measuring and evaluating the brightness of stars can be traced back to the Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus during 190 - 120 BC. He is responsible for producing a catalogue of comparative brightness and positioning of over 850 stars. Hipparchus formed the apparent magnitude scale to determine the brightness of a star as seen by an observer from earth.

How does this scale work? The brighter the celestial object appears, the lower the value of its magnitude. For instance, the faintest objects you can see using the naked eye are indicated with a magnitude of 6, while the Sun on the apparent magnitude scale is –26.74. However, most of the stars we gaze at in an urban neighborhood with our eyes are usually somewhere around 3 to 4 and if using binoculars, the limit is 10. More recently, through the use of the powerful Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have located stars with magnitudes of 30+. It is this basic classification from over 2,000 years ago that led to the magnitude scale that we still use today!

Discovered in 1986 by Australian astronomer Malcolm Hartley, comet 103P or Hartley 2 is set for the closest encounter with earth in 24 years. This “dirty snowball” that is comprised of rock, dust, ice and frozen gases was visible in the constellation of Auriga as a fuzzy, green blur to Northern Hemisphere observers during Mid-October.

Through November, Southern Hemisphere stargazers can catch a glimpse of the comet as it travels away from earth, using the naked eye, binoculars and of course, a telescope. This year, Hartley 2 made its closest pass at a mere 11 million miles on October 20th and is calculated to orbit the Sun every 6 ½ years. EPOXI, or Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation is a spacecraft that is due to make a flyby of Hartley 2 from only 600 miles away on November 4th. The mission plans to gather information on the comet’s surface and craters, as well as close-up images of dust and gas plumes.

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